As the seconds ticked away for the last time on the countdown clock at the Arsenal Stadium on Sunday 7 May, history was being made. Arsenal played Wigan Athletic in the last game of the 2005-6 Premier League season. This football match ended a sequence of 93 years of sporting history in the northern side of London.

In 1913 Woolwich Arsenal, as they were known then, moved from their southern London origins to the grounds to Highbury Hill where they where looking for new pastures. The move, as one would expect, annoyed, to put it mildly, the other football clubs in the area as supporters could be taken over by the new club.

Watching the Wigan supporters wearing their blue ‘I was there’ t-shirt, I couldn’t help but admire the continuous eye for detail that has made the name Arsenal famous around the world. A glance around the stands, with the red and white colour scheme for the day interrupted by the blue side of the Wigan supporters, provided an unforgettable feeling of belonging and pride. On every seat, that is 38, 358 of them, each supporter found a special commemorative t- shirt for the day which, when worn, generated the red and white human blanket.

Known for its marble halls and the bust of Herbert Chapman looking across the timeline of nearly a century, this stadium has hosted a number of historical events in its 93 years of existence. Leicester Fosse were Arsenal’s first opponents on 6 September 1913. Woolwich Arsenal won the game 2-1.

England played Italy, World Champions of the day, on 14 November 1934. Arsenal provided seven players for the England side, which went on to win the match 3-2. On 9 March, 1935, Sunderland FC came to Highbury and the 0-0 draw was watched by a crowd of 73,295, the largest crowd the stadium had ever seen. The Busby Babes of Manchester United played their last game before their tragic trip to Munich, on British soil at Highbury in an extraordinary game. It was played on 1 February 1958, Arsenal losing the game 4 -5.

This stadium will not host any other major sporting events, but it has left its mark on the history of the people’s game. On Sunday, 7 May, 2006, as I walked out of the turnstiles which had embraced millions of people throughout the years, I noticed how the heavy grey London skies had held on to their watery downpours. Just long enough to let the thousands inside, and out of, the Arsenal stadium, bid their own personal final salutes. Farewell to the Arsenal Stadium Highbury, where you could feel history being made, and the sense that Arsenal were a bit different to other clubs.